Sharks Love Metal!

A documentary film crew hit upon a novel technique to attract great white sharks – blasting death metal through an underwater speaker, according to an article on independent.co.uk back in July.

The Discovery Channel crew, filming for the Shark Week show ‘Bride of Jaws’, were on the hunt for a large great white, wonderfully nicknamed ‘Joan of Shark’.

Desperate to feature the 16-foot, 1.6 tonne shark in their documentary, they submerged a speaker to see if the shark would react. Unfortunately they didn’t manage to attract Joan, but did catch the attention of two others, one of which was 12 feet long.

Sharks ‘hear’ by picking up vibrations from receptors on their bodies, meaning they can be attracted to the low-frequency vibrations of heavy music, which apparently sounds like struggling fish.

It’s an odd tactic, but one that’s apparently well-known by shark hunters. Matt Walller, a shark tour operator in Australia, found out that AC/DC records caused sharks to change their behaviour.

When he played the tunes from underwater speakers, the sharks swam straight up to his boat, brushing their heads against the submerged diving cage.

Other than being a boon for metal fans on shark tours, using music, instead of bait, could be more environmentally friendly.